Monday, May 16, 2011

goodbye, Mayor Daley


new library, Kedzie near Chicago
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Real life (good and bad) has interfered with this blog again, but I would be remiss in not posting something on Mayor Richard M. Daley's last day in office. (Yes, Friday was his last working day, but I heard from most sources today is the technical"last" day. I got back from an overnight bus from St. Louis before the inaguration ceremony going on as I'm writing this.)

Daley's legacy is better told on other sites--and I'm looking forward to books about him--so I will simply note that he's the only mayor I've ever known in Chicago, and I've lived here longer than many or most of my friends and acquaintances. (Since 1995. Most people I know here are either lifelong Chicagoans or moved here since the late 90s or later.) This is kind of a big deal. I don't know whether to be more scared or excited.

This library, by the way, is the first in many years to break the Chicago Public Library's policy of no longer naming library branches after people. It is the new Richard M. Daley branch, not far from where I live.